Legs & Co. – Fanfare for the Common Man

Top of the Pops 25 December 1977:
Legs & Co. dance to Fanfare for the Common Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Christmas Day on Top of the Pops: and what could be more christmassy than a pantomime? Of course the world of panto always had “One for the Dads”, in the shape of the Principal Boy. Traditionally in British pantomime, the male romantic lead character (and often his best pal too) would be played by a beautiful young woman, usually in tights and riding boots, performing an over-the-top parody of dashing maleness: threatening to run every other man through with his rapier, giving exaggerated hat-twirling bows to the ladies: but most of all, lots of thigh-slapping.

So for this Top of the Pops holiday special, we get six principal boys amongst the Christmas trees, in seriously sexy thigh boots and seriously short silken pirate blouses. Lots of hat-flourishing as part of the energetic choreography. But alas, no thigh-slapping.

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Boo! Hiss!

My old One for the Dads blog was shut down by the Kopyright Kops. So here's a new one. Still showing performances from Legs & Co., Pan's People and Ruby Flipper, amongst others. But no more downloads. Sorry.